Thread: Deactivating a live primer

Good afternoon,

Has anyone here deactivated a live primer so its still looks live but is inactive? Can i soak it in something to remove the compound?

I know its a bit of a touchy subject with the price and lack of primers at the moment. Making some cuff links and when polishing fired cases the primers lose the silver coating and also would be nice to have it with out the firing pin dent.

Cheers

Why not try pressing the dent left by the firing pin out? wouldn't be hard to remove the anvil. It wouldn't be advisable to mess around with live primers like that as they work by chemical action and once you go messing around with it if those two chemicals get mixed up somehow.....

Originally Posted by ElDax

Why not try pressing the dent left by the firing pin out? wouldn't be hard to remove the anvil. It wouldn't be advisable to mess around with live primers like that as they work by chemical action and once you go messing around with it if those two chemicals get mixed up somehow.....

was about to suggest the same, or just cut a piece of stainless or brass rod of the same diameter and press into place (could use epoxy to hold in place if need be)

A few drops of kerosene in the flash hole does the trick. Acetone will dissolve the internal sealing compound.

In a safe area heat the primer and set it off?

I have cuff-links made from fired cases.

They are cases with which I won a national title.

For me the used primer adds to the story of why I had them made.

Clp or acetone work well

Originally Posted by gundoc

A few drops of kerosene in the flash hole does the trick. Acetone will dissolve the internal sealing compound.

Have you tried this yourself and tested them. Or is it something you read some where? I know someone tested heaps of common solvents and all the primers worked after 24hrs of soaking.

Primer brands may vary tho.

do you know that one can buy fingerless gloves -yup they make them just for people who play with primers detonators that kind of finger muncher - eye hurty -type thingy - just saying

Forgot to report back. Seated a live primer in an empty case, clamped a piece of sanded steel (impressively imprints the imperfections) over the primer and set up a butane torch on the case head. Walked away. Small pop. Only one made a real noise and that was where the case neck was split and it blew it out some what.
Wore safety protection but certainly didn't feel unsafe, had maybe 15-20 seconds before it popped.
Ended up not using them as no matter how carefully i de primed it left a small dent sticking out of the nice flat primer. Seemed to happen when pushing on the anvil. More fucking around could have probably solved this.